MOTU New documentary for a possible 25th anniversary Masters of the Universe 87 Movie DVD

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New documentary for a possible 25th anniversary Masters of the Universe 87 Movie DVD

Just got in touch with the folks from the TOY MASTERS documentary and Gary Goddard, and they gave us some interesting news:
Over the last couple months Gary Goddard -- the director of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE MOTION PICTURE, and Roger Lay Jr -- the director of the upcoming documentary feature film TOY MASTERS had been working on producing an all new documentary which focuses on the difficulties faced by cast and crew during the making of MOTU: THE MOTION PICTURE. The live action film was produced in 1986-1987 during the later days of the toy line when sales had begun to decline drastically and to make matters worse the film was being produced by Cannon Films - a studio that was on it's way to going out of business. Goddard had to face these and other major challenges on a daily basis to complete the film. This new documentary would've revealed those details through a series of all new interviews with the film's key creative personnel and cast members.

Last year Lay and Goddard began discussions to develop and produce a new version of Goddard's cult classic science fiction series CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE. The first step to reintroduce the franchise was to release the classic episodes on DVD so Lay set out to produce a 25th anniversary DVD set of the complete series with over 6 hours of all new special features including the feature length documentary OUT OF THE ASHES: THE MAKING OF CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE. The 25th anniversary DVD went on to receive an overwhelmingly positive series of reviews and quickly sold out at the distributor level. The set has now gone into a second printing. Inspired by the success of the CAPTAIN POWER DVD set Goddard approached Warner Home Video about re-releasing the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE film on DVD for it's 25th anniversary including all the new special features he and Lay had begun working on. Even Bryan Singer (Director, X-MEN, USUAL SUSPECTS) agreed to come onboard to moderate an all new commentary track with Goddard and Frank Langella (Skeletor).After months of communication and positive response from the studio, Goddard was told that they would not move forward with their plan to re-issue the film at the moment.

Both Lay and Goddard were immensely disappointed since they had begun compiling and creating a plethora of all new content which would have made this reissue a very special DVD for fans of the film and the Masters franchise.

Here's a short sample of the new documentary that was meant to be the centerpiece of the new DVD reissue of the film. If the new anniversay DVD won't be released, Lay still plans on including this material in the special features of his upcoming TOY MASTERS film when it is released on DVD / BLU-RAY.

When I first saw this movie I was 11 years old!! Actually I liked the film, but not soo much!!
Today I have the DVD of this film!! The last time I watched was last year and honestly I think itīs a terrible movie...
I know the movie tecnology in 80s were not the same we have today... but the storie coming to earth... "the boyfriends storie"... the "boy band storie", so commom in 80s... itīs so trash (it remembers me teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 with Vanilla Ice !!!
In my opinion, in a time were children used to watch movies like Conan, Robocop, Indiana Jones, the Goonies, Aliens and Predators, they could shot a better movie than this movie was made!!

I remember reading about how the film was in trouble, but I never really knew how bad it was until I saw that youtube clip. I got to give Gary props. He made a decent movie from what he had to work with. If MOTU ever goes back to the movies, I hope Gary gets another shot at it. He deserves it.

Dolph

This youtube clip was really interesting, I would love to see more of this kind of footage.
The director doesn't give a lot of praise to Dolph, I thought Lundgren made a great He-Man, and he had the right look, and size to play him.
Maybe the trouble they had with getting paid etc and all the pressure on set was the reason Dolph said way back in the day that it was a low point for him?

I have always loved this movie, Frank Langella and Meg Foster were awesome. But after this clip, I have so much more respect for it. I could only imagine what kind of film we would have gotten if they had a stronger budget and less restrictions from Mattel. I am surprised that if Mattel paid for the whole thing, then why don't they have any rights? Mattel should sue the lawyer who did their contracts with Canon back in the day.

Awesome news that we'll at least get to see this on the Toy Masters DVD special features. But boo @ the studio. First they scoff at Mattel's offer for movie characters and now this. They're ruining the 25th and 30th anniversary.

OMG!!! That 11 min is the biggest TEASE!!! I got a high heart rate just watching that!!! I can't get enough of listening reading and watching anything to do with the MOTU Movie!! Goddard is so passionate and seeing Stout talk about that there supposed to be a bigger battle intended...oh it breaks my heart!! I want that commentary w Langella and Goddard!! PLEASE PLEASE RELEASE THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION!!

I really enjoyed this video and Goddard seems like a really cool guy. I hated this movie when I was kid only because it was such a huge departure from Filmation, and because it was on earth. But watching it again as an adult with no expectations, I like the movie. It's fun. It stinks that Goddard has again put all this work into this movie, on supplemental materials, and the studios are getting in his way. Ugggh.

Thanks for posting that, Emiliano. It's unfortunate to hear that the re-release was canceled, but hopefully they will indeed still get to release the documentary.

It was interesting to hear that Langella had some influence on the design of Skeletor. Does anyone know the actor that Goddard was referring to when he suggests that he had a different casting preference for He-Man?

When you realize just how much Gary and the production had stacked against them it makes you appreciate the film more. They truly did the best they could with what little money and freedom they were given.

I hope Gary Goddard is at PowerCon again this year, I would love to get his autograph on ether my DVD or movie poster. Not sure why I didn't think to do that last year is beyond me.

I suspect that the studio is waiting till the film's 30th Anniversary, since that is most likely when we would see a new MOTU movie produced. They probably feel that they would make more money off the project at that time. A shame -- a commentary with Langella and Singer(!) would be great fun. At the very least, I feel they should do the commentary now, and use it for the future release. Langella isn't getting any younger, and now would be the time to do it.

Exactly. If the plan was to just do another DVD release, I'm glad that they didn't go through with it. It's appalling to release anything shot and edited on film on a format that is a lower resolution than any television produced today--and less than half the resolution of most! It infuriates me when studios do that. "New bonus features! Half the pixels it takes to fill your screen!" A new DVD would have just delayed the eventual Blu Ray release, so maybe they're just waiting to do it right.

The flip side of that is that if they didn't do an HD master/transfer when they did the first DVD release, they'd have to do one for Blu Ray now. They might not have thought it was worth the expense, and in that case, we might be kinda screwed for a while.

Does anyone know if any 720 HD airings have happened? That would probably indicate that a 1080 master is out there.

I hope they don't use the same DVD manufacturer as Captain Power and Skeleton Warriors. It seems like half the people that got the Captain Power and Skeleton Warriors DVD sets couldn't get them to play on their DVD or blu-ray players.

If they are waiting for the reasons you all mentioned, that makes sense. Still, this is a bummer we won't get it this year for the 25th anniversary of the film.
that video got me all excited to see more!

If the dvd plans are indeed cancelled, the next best thing would be theatrical screenings celebrating the 25th anniversary with Q&A's with some of the folks involved in the making of the film. I could see the Alamo Drafthouse pulling something like this at some point this year